Populate new virtual machine environments from a large directory of virtual machine appliances.

Ensure conversion reliability through quiesced snapshots of the guest operating system on the source machine before data migration.

Enable non-disruptive conversions through hot cloning, with no source server downtime or reboot.

What's New

The VMware vCenter Converter Standalone release adds several new features including:

Physical to virtual machine conversion support for Linux (RHEL, SUSE and Ubuntu) as source

Physical to virtual machine conversion support for Windows Server 2008 as source

Hot cloning improvements to clone any incremental changes to physical machine during the P2V conversion process

Support for converting new third-party image formats including Parallels Desktop virtual machines, newer versions of Symantec, Acronis, and StorageCraft

Workflow automation enhancements to include automatic source shutdown, automatic start-up of the destination virtual machine as well as shutting down one or more services at the source and starting up selected services at the destination

Target disk selection and the ability to specify how the volumes are laid out in the new destination virtual machine

CAUTION: During cloning of powered-on Linux machines, Converter Standalone 4.0 preserves the following source file systems on the target: ext2, ext3, reiserfs, and vfat. All other source file systems are converted into ext3 file systems on the target virtual machine.

Prior Releases of Converter Standalone

Features from prior releases of Converter Standalone are described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for prior releases of Converter Standalone, click one of the following links:

Known Issues

General

No warning message is displayed when installing Converter 3.0.3 on top of Converter Standalone 4.0If you start the Converter 3.0.3 installer on a system that already has Converter Standalone 4.0 installed, no warning message is displayed to notify you that Converter Standalone 4.0 will be uninstalled.

Converter Standalone displays wrong task summary information when using Copy as New to create tasksIf you copy an existing task within Converter Standalone and change the destination to Virtual appliance, the Ready To Complete step in the Conversion wizard might contain residual destination information (physical memory, number of CPUs, configuration files datastore, and destination customization) inherited from the original task.

Target virtual machines converted from third-party virtual images running Windows NT with SMP run with 100% CPU usage after the conversionSource third-party images that run Windows NT with multi-processor kernels are not reconfigured properly during conversion. After the conversion, they continue to run with multi-CPU kernel and consume 100% of the virtual CPU capacity.

Conversion of powered-on Linux machines might fail if a very large number of source files have time stamps in the future with respect to the system clock of the destination ESX hostWorkaround: Synchronize the clocks between the source machine and the destination ESX host if possible. It might also be necessary to change the timestamps of the source files so that they are not in the future with respect to the destination ESX's clock.

Linked Cloning of source images greater than 2GB to a network share that does not support large files failsCreating linked clones from source images that are larger than 2GB to a network share that does not support large files (e.g. to a Linux SMB share) fails. Converter Standalone does not split the source files into smaller chunks. If the source is larger than the supported file size on the destination, the conversion tasks fails.

Consecutive conversions of powered-on machines running Windows Server 2000 fail every other time If you try to convert a powered-on machine running Windows Server 2000 several consecutive times, every second conversion task fails with the following error in Converter Standalone logs:
agent.internal.fault.PlatformError.summary.
Workaround: If the conversion task fails, right-click the task in the task list, select Copy As New to create a new conversion task, and run it again.

Virtual machines created from OVF sources with SCSI LSI Logic disk controller might not start up after conversion to an ESX destinationOVF sources with LSI Logic disk controllers might fail to boot when imported to an ESX destination. This is because Converter Standalone might change the controller type to Bus Logic instead of preserving the source controller type.
Workaround: Using VI client, edit the settings of the imported virtual machine to change the controller type from Bus Logic back to LSI Logic. This will enable the virtual machine to boot.

Converter Standalone Linux installer fails when the icon or desktop directory is missingWhen installing Converter Standalone on Linux, the Linux installer asks you to specify the location for the Converter Standalone client icon file and desktop file, providing default paths as /usr/share/icons and /usr/share/applications. If you specify non-existing directory paths, or if you choose to use the default paths provided by the installer and they do not exist, Converter Standalone installation fails with the following error:
Unable to copy source file to the destination file.
Workaround: Make sure the directories you specify for the icon and desktop file already exist on your system. If necessary, create them manually.

Conversions of VMware Infrastructure virtual machine sources with 15 or more disks to any ESX destination managed by VirtualCenter 2.5 failIf you import a virtual machine source that resides on an ESX 3.5 host and the source machine has 15 or more VMDK files to ESX 3.5 destination managed by VirtualCenter 2.5, the conversion task fails with the following error message in Converter Standalone logs:
FAILED: agent.internal.fault.NfcConnectionFault.summaryTo work around this issue:

Convert the source machine to a hosted virtual machine destination, such as Workstation.

Convert the resulting virtual machine to the ESX managed by VirtualCenter where you want it to reside.

The conversion of powered-on Linux machines fails during volume cloning if the password for the source machine contains a backslash characterWorkaround: Change the password on the source machine so that it does not contain a backslash character.

Creating a conversion task to import a standalone VMware source with a VMDK file greater than 2GB from a network share that does not support large files, failsIf you select a standalone virtual machine source with VMDK file greater than 2GB residing on a remote network location that does not support large files (e.g. Linux SMB share), the following error message appears in the Converter wizard on clicking Next or View source details:
agent.internal.fault.FileOpenError.summary.
Workaround: Map the network shared folder to the machine where Converter Standalone runs, and select the source from there.

While exporting a virtual machine from an ESX 3.5 host to OVF "folder of files" format by using Converter Standalone, the vNICs are forcibly changed from their native typeWhile exporting a virtual machine source from an ESX 3.5 host to the OVF "folder of files" format, Converter Standalone changes the source vNICs from their native type (vmxnet, vlance, or e1000) to either PCNet32 (vlance) or E1000 (e1000). This might result in an unexpected lack of network connectivity when the OVF is imported.
Workaround: Edit the .vmx file to manually modify the vNIC type after importing the virtual appliance.

Linked cloning of standalone VMware sources to Linux SMB shared destination failsLinked cloning tasks of VMware standalone sources to SMB shared destinations that run on Linux fail with the following error:
converter.fault.FileIOFault.

User Account Control (UAC) prevents uninstalling Converter Standalone 4.0 from Windows Vista or laterYou cannot uninstall Converter Standalone 4.0 from Windows > Control Panel > Add or Remove programs if UAC is enabled.
To work around this issue, uninstall Converter Standalone using its installer:

Run the VMware-converter-4.0.0-xxxxxxx.exe

On the Program maintenance page, select Remove

Click Next and Remove to complete the installation.

Converter Standalone client is unable to start Converter Standalone services on Windows Vista if UAC is enabledWhen the User Account Control (UAC) is enabled on Windows Vista, Converter Standalone cannot start the VMware vCenter Converter Agent service and VMware vCenter Converter Server service. The following error message is displayed at application startup:
VMware vCenter Converter Server is installed but not running. When Converter Server is not running you will not be able to connect to local server.
Do you want to start it now?Workaround: Start the VMware vCenter Converter Server service manually from Windows Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services.

The number of LVM logical volumes per volume group is limited to 12 for powered-on Linux sourcesDuring the conversion of powered-on Linux machines, Converter Standalone converts LVM volume groups into new disks on the target virtual machine. The number of LVM logical volumes on a source LVM volume group cannot exceed 12.
Workaround: Move volumes out of the new disk to other target disks:

On the View/Edit Options page of the Conversion wizard, click Data to copy.

On the Target Layout tab, select a volume to move and click Move Up or Move Down until it is moved to the destination target disk.
You can move volumes between disks as long as they are not Active (/boot) or System (/) volumes.

An error message appears when powering on a target virtual machine cloned from a live Windows Server 2003 sourceWhen you power on a target virtual machine that is converted from a live Windows Server 2003, the following dialog box appears:
"Why did the computer shutdown unexpectedly?".
This dialog box does not represent an issue with the target machine. It only requires information for the reason why the source was shut down. You can safely dismiss the dialog and proceed working with the target virtual machine as usual.

Converter Standalone installer removes Workstation 6.5.x remote agents without notificationWhen you use Workstation 6.5.x to hot-clone a Windows source machine, Workstation deploys a remote Workstation agent on the source. If you choose to leave the remote agent on that source and then install Converter Standalone 4.0 on the same machine, the Converter Standalone installer uninstalls that agent without any warning messages.

Source volumes on top of volume managers other than LVM are not recognized during conversion of powered-on Linux machinesConverter Standalone recognizes only managed source volumes that run on the LVM volume manager. Other volume managers, including but not limited to Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM), are not recognized.

Converter Standalone 4.0 does not recognize source volumes that reside on Linux Software RAID configurationsDuring cloning of powered-on Linux machines, Converter Standalone does not recognize source volumes that are part of a Software RAID configuration (also referred to as multiple disk, or md, configurations).

LILO boot loader is not supported for Linux sourcesYou can convert powered-on machines that run Linux only if GRUB is installed as the boot loader on the source.

Users with limited rights cannot install Converter Standalone 4.0 on WindowsIf you are logged in to Windows as a limited user, the following error message is displayed while the InstallShield is extracting files for Converter Standalone installation:
Unable to save file:
C:\WINDOWS\Installer\
The system cannot find the path specified.The error is displayed because limited users do not have the required write rights.
Workaround: Select the %TEMP% directory to extract the installation files.

Click OK in the above message

Browse to the Temp folder of the current user (for example, C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Local Settings\Temp) and click OK

NOTE: You still need to log in as an administrator to install Converter Standalone.

You cannot install Converter Standalone 4.0 on a Linux machine running with a Xen kernelA check in Linux tar installer prevents Converter Standalone 4.0 from being installed on a Xen kernel.
Workaround:

Unpack the Linux installer tar package.

Inside the unpacked installer, open the installer script vmware-installer.pl using a text editor

In vmware-installer.pl, search for /proc/xen to find the check for Xen kernel. The check denies installation of VMware products unless the product is tools. Comment out this check to disable it.

Save the changes to vmware-installer.pl and start it to install Converter Standalone.

Microsoft Windows Vista reboots repeatedly after customizationProviding wrong customization information might cause the target virtual machine to reboot repeatedly if the source operating system is Microsoft Windows Vista. During conversion or configuration, if you choose to customize Microsoft Windows Vista and provide wrong customization information, for example invalid serial key, the customized target reboots repeatedly. This is a known issue with Microsoft Windows Vista.
Workaround: Make sure that the provided customization information is valid.

Converting source machines to Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 local or network share drive and selecting Pre-allocated target disk option might result in failure to clone the diskIn Converter Standalone agent log you will find the following error:
[NFC ERROR] File error -- Failed to write to the target file: An error was detected.This might be due to a known file system issue on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Workarounds:

By default, Converter Standalone has a 20 minute timeout when waiting for the helper virtual machine to start up during Linux P2V conversionThis might cause a Linux P2V conversion task to fail due to connection timeout.
Workaround: Extend the timeout period by modifying the linuxP2VBootTimeout flag in the converter-agent.xml file. See Extending the Timeout Period for Helper Virtual Machine Startup (KB 1008301) for details.

Sparse files are not preserved during conversion of powered-on source machines that run LinuxBy default, Converter Standalone does not preserve sparse files on the source machine during Linux P2V conversion. If you have large sparse files on the source, they are created as non-sparse on the target virtual machine. This renders the used space on the target file system larger than that on the source machine. This could also make the conversion task fail with a timeout error.
Workaround: Manually enable keeping sparse files during Linux conversions by modifying the keepSparseFile flag in the converter-agent.xml file. See Enable Retention of Sparse Files During Linux Conversions (KB 1008303) for detailed instructions.

Target virtual machines cloned from OVF sources fail to power on after conversionIf you convert an OVF source, the target virtual machine does not start up. This is because Converter Standalone fails to reconfigure the target.
Workaround: If the destination machine does not boot after conversion, try reconfiguring the destination image using the Configuration wizard.

Converter Standalone cannot detect the power state of VMware Workstation or other VMware hosted source virtual machines if they are located on a read-only network shareIf the source machine is a Workstation or other VMware hosted source and is located on a network share with read-only permissions, Converter Standalone cannot detect if the source is powered on or suspended. This might lead to data inconsistency on the target machine if changes are made to the powered-on source virtual machine during conversion.
Workarounds:

Verify that the source virtual machine is powered off prior to conversion.

Provide write privileges to the network share where the source virtual machine resides.

Run Converter Standalone installer on the remote source machine and install Remote Access by using the Modify option.

Log in to the remote source machine, run Converter Standalone, and perform a local hot cloning task.

Owner name and organization are not displayed properly after customizing the guest operating systemAfter customizing the guest operating system, Unicode characters used for owner name and organization on the Computer Information page do not appear the way they were set in the Conversion or the Configuration wizard.
Workaround: Either do not use Unicode characters when assigning owner name and organization name for the target virtual machine, or use the workaround described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441/.

Destination machines converted from physical machine sources running Windows 2000 display blue screen on startupIf the source physical machine has IDE disks and is running a version of Windows 2000 earlier than service pack 4, the resulting destination virtual machine displays the following error message on a blue screen:
inaccessible_boot_device.
The issue pertains to Windows and was fixed by Microsoft in service pack 4. For more information on this issue, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249694/.
Workarounds:

Upgrade the destination virtual machine to service pack 4 using the Windows installation CD. For more information on in-place upgrade of Windows 2000, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175/.

Conversion from and to ESX hosts fails if the number of disks on the source machine is more than nineWhen converting a source machine that has more than nine disks, conversion fails with the following error in the log file:
Error on logout (ignored): Operation timed out
SSLStreamImpl::BIORead ( 3BBA4E8) timed out.
The error is due to the limited number of NFC connections that can be established to ESX hosts.
Workaround: Connect to the target ESX host through a VirtualCenter. In this case, the number of source disks is limited to 27 for ESX and to 23 for ESXi hosts.

Converter Standalone 4.0 client can connect only to Converter Standalone server of the same versionThe following error message is displayed when you try to connect to a remote Converter Standalone server that is not the same version as Converter Standalone client:
The version of the server we connect to is not supported.
Converter Standalone server must be version 4.0 so that Converter Standalone client can connect to it.
Workaround: Run Converter Standalone 4.0 installer on the Converter Standalone server machine to install the Converter Standalone 4.0 server.

No task progress is shown when importing a virtual machine that is larger than 1TBConverter Standalone does not display the progress of conversion tasks if the source virtual machine is larger than 1TB. Conversion tasks are completed successfully, but the user cannot monitor their progress.
Workaround: You can monitor the disk performance of the destination ESX host to check if tasks are running properly.

Conversion of powered-on Hyper-V local machines might failIf the source machine is a powered-on local Hyper-V machine, conversion task fails, and the following error message displays:
Failed to create VSS snapshot of source volume. error code: 2147754758 (0x80042306).
The following error appears in the log file:
VSS Snapshot creation failed for the volume \\?\Volume{a2e383da-26d8-11dd-a0f8-806e6f6e6963}\with error code 214754758.
The issue is observed if the following two VSS services are not started or are not operating properly on the source machine: Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service.
Workarounds:

Restart the source machine and try cloning it again.

Set Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider Service and Volume Shadow Copy Service starting mode to Automatic.

Conversion of a powered-on Windows Server 2008 source with an unformatted volume failsYou cannot convert powered-on source machines running Windows Server 2008 if their volumes haven't been formatted. The VSS version in Windows Server 2008 does not support unformatted volumes. The following error appears in the log file:
Failed to create VSS snapshot of source volume. Error code :2147754764 (0x8004230C)Workaround:

Format the non-formatted volume and try the conversion again.

Deselect all non-formatted volumes while setting up the conversion task in the Data to copy pane of the View/Edit Options page.

Converter does not support cloning powered-on Windows Server 2008 sources with FAT/FAT32 volume file systemVSS under Windows Server 2008 does not support FAT/FAT32. Trying to convert a FAT/FAT32 volume will cause the conversion task to fail.
Workaround: Deselect all FAT/FAT32 volumes on the View/Edit Options page of the Conversion wizard.

Converter can convert FAT/FAT32 volumes during hot cloning only if the source machine has at least one NTFS volumeFor source machines running under Windows versions earlier than Windows Server 2008, VSS can take snapshots of FAT/FAT32 volumes only if the source machine has at least one NTFS volume. For all operating systems that support volume-based cloning, you need at least one NTFS volume for VSS to work.

Conversion fails if there is not enough space on the source to take a VSS snapshotIf there is not enough space on the source volume for the VSS to create a snapshot, conversion fails with the following error:
Failed to create VSS snapshot of source volume. Error code: 2147754783(0x8004231F).
Workaround: Try cleaning up the source volumes (especially the system volume and all NTFS volumes) and try to convert the source again.

When running on Linux, Converter Standalone can reconfigure or customize Windows virtual machine sources only if they have NTFS-formatted boot and system volumesThis limitation does not apply when converting powered-on machine sources.

Limitations when converting third-party imagesConverter Standalone 4.0 can convert Acronis, StorageCraft, and Symantec backup images with the following limitations:

Backups of systems with dynamic disks are not supported.

All images for the backup of a machine must be in a single folder that contains no other images.

For incremental images, up to 16 incremental backups are supported.

Images of systems with logical drives are not supported if the logical drive is also a system or active volume (only for ShadowProtect sources).

For volume-based cloning of Acronis and StorageCraft, all volumes in the disk before the active and system volumes must be backed up. For example, if a disk has four partitions, 1-4, with partition 2 as the active volume and partition 3 as the system volume, the backup must include volumes 1 through 3.

Converter Standalone remote agent does not notify the user about previous Converter 3.0.x installation on the same machine during remote hot cloning processIf Converter Standalone 4.0 is converting a remote machine source that already has Converter 3.0.x installed on it, Converter Standalone 4.0 uninstalls the old installation without notifying or warning the user.

Converter Standalone remote agent does not notify the user about Converter 3.0.x remote agents that have been installed on the source system during remote hot cloning processIf Converter Standalone 4.0 is converting a remote machine source that already has a remote agent from Converter 3.0.x version, it uninstalls the old remote agent without issuing a notification or warning message. This prevents older Converter versions from converting this source machine later.

Previous Converter versions cannot convert source machines that have Converter Standalone 4.0 agent installed on them.Converter Standalone 4.0 agent is deployed on the source machine during conversion. If Converter Standalone 4.0 agent is not uninstalled after the conversion, older Converter versions cannot deploy their agents on top of the newer Converter Standalone agent version. Therefore, you cannot use previous Converter versions to convert sources that have already been converted with Converter Standalone 4.0.
Workaround: Uninstall Converter Standalone 4.0 agent before trying to convert the source with an older Converter version.

Task validation fails if the volumes to be cloned requires volume-based file-level cloning and if synchronize changes is activeAfter clicking Finish on the Ready to Complete page, an error message appears in the information bar, and the conversion task cannot be submitted to the task list. Synchronization cannot be enabled if at least one of the source volumes requires file-level cloning. File-level cloning is required when reducing or enlarging the size of FAT/FAT32 volumes and when reducing the size of NTFS volumes.

Upgrading to Converter Standalone 4.0 from a previous Converter version installed on the system might fail or result in a corrupt installationRunning Converter installer without removing any previous Converter versions from the system might either cause the software upgrade to fail or might result in a corrupt installation of Converter Standalone 4.0.
Workaround: Before installing Converter Standalone 4.0, uninstall any previous Converter versions from your system by using Add/Remove Programs.

Converter places the system boot disk as the first disk on the target virtual machine.Converter always places the system boot disk as the first disk on the destination virtual machine. The first disk means either the first IDE disk, if the target supports IDE, or the first SCSI disk if the target does not support IDE or if the user explicitly selects a SCSI disk controller for the target machine.

The target virtual machine does not start up after conversion if users modify the boot order in the BIOS of the source machineIf the user has modified the boot order in the BIOS of the source machine, Converter might fail to recognize the source boot disk properly, which might prevent the target machine from starting up.
Workaround: Rearrange disk order in the source machine's BIOS before the conversion.

Converter fails to configure the target virtual machine if users modify the disks order in the source machine BIOSIf the user modifies the boot order in the BIOS of the source machine, Converter might fail to recognize the source boot disk properly, which might cause the target configuration to fail.
Workaround: Rearrange disks order in the source machine BIOS before the conversion.

Converter is unable to recognize the system volume if it resides on a SCSI disk and if IDE disks are present in the source machineOn source machines with SCSI and IDE disks, Converter is unable to detect the system volume if the system volume resides on a SCSI disk. Converter only checks the first IDE disk in such configurations.

Converter does not report all disks and volumes present on the system while converting a powered-on source machine running Windows operating systemThis issue is caused by a bug in Microsoft APIs that Converter uses to query devices. The issue is observed with Windows XP Professional 64-bit, without any service pack and might be present in other versions of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 as well.
Workaround: Update to the latest service pack where the issue is resolved. This issue is not observed in service pack 1 for Windows XP Professional 64-bit.

In the Computer Management window, select Services and Applications > Services on the left.

Scroll down the list on the right to find VMware vCenter Converter Agent and double-click it.

Click Start to start the process.

Click Apply followed by OK.

Task progress and Estimated time to completion are unreliable under certain conditionsThe task progress displayed in Converter task list as well as the estimated time left to task completion might be miscalculated if the source system has a large amount of free space or very large files on its disks, as well as in case of unexpected network degradation.

Remote agent installation is unsuccessful when you specify a computer or DNS name with non-ASCII characters in the Conversion wizardIf you use non-ASCII characters to populate the computer or DNS name field when selecting a source in the Conversion wizard, the installation of Converter Standalone agent fails.
Workaround: Use the IP address instead of the non-ASCII name.

If the hardware configuration of the source machine is modified while the Conversion wizard is open, you need to restart the conversion wizard in order to view correct source detailsSource machine details are retrieved per wizard session, as this is a time-consuming process. If some changes occur on the source machine (such as adding memory or hard drives) after this information is retrieved, the Conversion wizard does not show information about them.
Workaround: Restart the conversion wizard.

OVF files created with Converter Standalone 4.0 are compatible with VMware Infrastructure Client 2.5 and vice versa, but not compatible with the Java OVF tool

Not all disks are detected while trying to import VPC and VS images If you check the source details in Conversion wizard, you might not see any or some of the source disks and volumes. However, you are allowed to submit the conversion task and start a conversion. If the missing disk is not critical (isn't a system or active volume) the conversion proceeds without errors and the destination virtual machine powers on correctly despite missing disks. If a critical source disk is not detected, the conversion fails. If no disks are detected, the conversion wizard displays the following error: vmodl.fault.InvalidArgument.This issue occurs because Converter relies on the relative path entry that must be present in the .vmc file.
Workaround: Place the .vhd files in the same directory as the .vmc file and edit the .vmc file to include a relative path to the .vhd files.

Conversion of remote powered-on sources running under Windows 2000 fails randomly with an Error code: 2For Windows 2000 sources, you need to restart the remote source machine after deploying the Converter Standalone agent and before starting the conversion. Sometimes, the conversion task is submitted to Converter server before the source system restart is complete. The following error is displayed:
Failed to create snapshot of source volume. Error code: 2.
Workaround: Make sure the source is rebooted, and then resubmit the task.

Volume-based cloning fails with the following error in the logs: Failed to get unallocated clusters, error 87If the source volume size is not equal to the file system size on the volume, block-based volume-level cloning fails. Although this is not so common on physical machines, it is very common with third-party backup images of Windows Vista and 2008 since for these operating systems the partitions are not cylinder aligned.
Workarounds:

The target virtual machine is not created when performing an OVF export larger than 2GBVirtual appliances can be very large and might exceed 2GB in size. When choosing a destination for your virtual appliance (OVF or OVA), ensure that you use a file system, such as NTFS, that can support large files. FAT file systems do not support files greater than 2GB. If a conversion process fails, an error code =12 in the log file indicates that you have reached this limitation.

OVA file is overwritten if an .ova file with a specified virtual appliance name already exists If you are exporting to a virtual appliance with the OVA file option specified, and if a .ova file with a name identical to the destination virtual appliance name is specified, no error message is issued and the existing OVA file is overwritten. If, however, the existing .ova file is read-only, the OVA creation task fails.

The source virtual machine does not have the appropriate drivers The following error message appears in the log file when reconfiguration fails because the appropriate drivers are not present on the source operating system:
Unable to find symmpi.sys in the specified CAB filesThis is usually observed in Windows Server 2003 SP1.
Workaround:

Save the virtual machine created during the failed import to a backup location.

Attach the VMDK file containing the system folder to another Windows 2003 virtual machine.

Replace the WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\driver.cab file in the target virtual machine with a version of the driver.cab file that includes the missing driver from the helper virtual machine.

Detach the VMDK file from the helper virtual machine and run the Configure Machine wizard on the target virtual Machine.

Snapshot fails when cloning an unformatted Windows volumeVMware Converter does not support hot cloning of recognized, but unformatted, Windows volumes as snapshotting of such volumes fails.
Workaround: Deselect any unformatted volumes when doing a hot clone.

Sysprep deletes drive letter mappings if your task includes customizationIf you choose customization options and the destination virtual machine fails at a Please Wait screen after
the second sysprep reboot, you need to rerun the import without customization. This issue occurs because of
a problem with Microsoft sysprep, which deletes the drive letter mappings, preventing access to certain files.

Converter Standalone agent powers on the virtual machine and waits for it to reboot automatically.

Sysprep processes the customizations.

Sysprep reboots the virtual machine.

The Windows operating system loads, and the network configurations occur.

If you manually reboot the virtual machine at step 2, without waiting for it to automatically reboot, the customization process breaks. If Windows discovers new hardware and asks you to reboot and you select YES, the customization process will also break. In both scenarios, customization settings are not applied to the virtual machine.
Workaround: Wait for the machine to automatically reboot twice before the customization settings are applied and you can safely log in.

Cloning a large disk with a large amount of free space to an ESX destination failsSelecting disk-based cloning with preserving the source disk size on the Conversion wizard Data to Copy page might cause the conversion task to fail if converting a large disk with a large amount of free space to an ESX destination. This issue is related to ESX connection timeout limitations.
Workarounds:

Check the conversion logs, and if there are error messages with NFC failures, use the volume-based cloning method with or without resizing.

Separate backup images should be stored in different foldersStoring more than one third-party backup in a single folder results in a failed migration.
Workaround: Place each backup in its own folder before using Converter Standalone to import an image.

Target virtual machine might not boot up because an incorrect disk number is reported from Symantec backups In some circumstances, the disk number reported in the Symantec library is incorrect, which causes the resulting image to be unbootable because the virtual machine searches for the Master Boot Record (MBR) in the incorrect device.
Workaround: In the main Workstation menu, choose VM > Settings > Hard Disk > Advanced and switch the virtual device node so the target virtual machine boots from the same disk as the source machine.

When you resize disks to Min size in the Conversion wizard, the resulting new disk size is approximately ten percent largerIf you hot clone a physical source machine and specify Min size for the source data, the actual disk size created is approximately 10 percent larger than the displayed minimum size.

User's Guide and Help

NEW:Missing limitation in Table 2-3, Supported Sources, on page 19 of Converter Standalone User's Guide, and in Table 1, Supported Sources, of the Converter Standalone Online HelpThe Third-party virtual machines or system images row contains a list of supported versions for Parallels products, but does not mention explicitly that Parallels Virtuozzo Containers are not supported in Converter Standalone.

Typographycal error in Table 2-7 on page 23 of VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0 User's GuideTable 2-7 states that the default device type for Floppy and CD-ROM is changed to host device. The default device type for Floppy and CD-ROM is changed to client device.

Converter Standalone 4.0 converts VCB image sources only if Converter Standalone is installed on a Windows platformThe VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0 User's Guide does not state this explicitly.

Converter Standalone displays an empty help page when installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2008When VMware vCenter Converter Standalone is installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and the system default browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, if user invokes help either from the Help menu or by pressing F1, Internet Explorer is started but displays an empty page.
The reason for this is that the default settings in Internet Explorer 7 do not allow execution of JavaScript code in the browser.
Workaround: Enable the "Active scripting" option in Internet Explorer 7.

Help page is displayed with errors in Firefox browsers when Converter Standalone is running on Linux systemsThe following error appears in the error console of Firefox when opening Converter Standalone help page on Linux Systems:
Expected end of value for property but found "border".
Error In parsing value for property "background".
Declaration dropped.You can ignore this error as it does not affect the content of help files.

You cannot customize the guest operating system of Linux sourcesVMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0 User's Guide and the online help do not state this explicitly.

F1 does not work when a combo box is selected in the Conversion wizard windowWhen the focus is on a combo box in the Conversion wizard, the F1 shortcut for help does not work.
Workaround: Press Alt+H keys on your keyboard to invoke Converter Standalone help.

Resolved Issues

General

During disk-based cloning of a source machine with three or more disks, an error message appears as soon as Converter 3.0.x starts cloning the third disk. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter closes with an error if the source VCB image path includes non-ASCII characters. This issue is no longer present in current release.

Source virtual machine networks are not reflected in the default networks of the OVF package. Converter Standalone 4.0 displays the number of networks in the source OVF package in the Edit EULA pane on the View/Edit Options page.

Remote hot cloning limitation with Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC). Now you can hot clone Windows Vista source machines without disabling the UAC on the source machine.

Converter 3.0.x closes with an error message if the number of volumes on source IDE disks plus the IDE CD-ROMs exceed Workstation IDE slot limit. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0 release.

System Restore checkpoints are not removed in the target virtual machine. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0.

End User License Agreement files are not added to OVF packages if you create conversion tasks by copying existing tasks. This issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

A linked clone of a VMware virtual machine that resides on a File Allocation Table (FAT) file system fails. This issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter Standalone is unable to connect to a remote physical source machine if you enter different user credentials on the source login page. Now you can go back and change the user credentials on the source login page.

Converter does not distinguish between physical serial ports and virtual serial ports on the source machine. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0 release.

Converter Standalone agent might not run after installation and reboot on Windows 2000 and Windows NT4 due to Windows Service Control Manager timeout. This is no longer an issue for the current Converter Standalone release.

Importing a Windows 2000 virtual machine fails when an OEM-type partition is selected. This issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Cloning of powered-on Linux machines does not preserve sparse files on the source machine. This issue is no longer present in Converter Standalone 4.0.

You cannot synchronize a destination machine with its source if the source machine runs Windows Server 2008 or Vista. This synchronization issue is fixed in current release.

Converting Symantec backup image sources with split .v2i files causes the Converter server system to stop responding. This is not longer valid in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter Standalone remote agent does not notify the user about any previous remote agents that have been installed on the source system during remote hot cloning process. Converter Standalone 4.0 displays a warning message if it detects Converter Standalone 4.0 Beta 1 agent on the source machine.

Conversion fails if the target disk size is set to Min size on the View/Edit options page. This issue is no longer observed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter does not display service names when converting a powered off virtual machine running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 guests from an pre-Vista Windows operating system. Service names are displayed correctly in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Volume-based conversion to hosted destinations is slow compared to previous Converter versions. The issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Conversion of powered-on physical machine sources fails if synchronization of source with destination is enabled and there are unrecognized volumes on the source system. In Converter Standalone 4.0, conversion does not fail but unrecognized volumes are not synchronized.

Converter does not display the minimum volume size correctly in certain cases when converting powered-on Linux machines. This issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Cloning of powered-on Linux machine fails if user is not logged in as administrator to Converter server that runs under Windows. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Querying powered-on Linux source might fail after clicking Next or Finish in the Conversion wizard. This issue is no longer observed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Cloning of powered-on Linux machine fails if the source contains disks that are neither IDE nor SCSI. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter server service stops, and a Connection to server lost error is displayed if you change the destination of a conversion task. This issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Converter does not clean up any volume snapshots if conversion of a physical machine source fails. Faulty snapshots are being cleared with Converter Standalone 4.0.

Conversion of Windows sources when Converter server is running on a Linux host fails if you select both Power on target machine and Configure guest preferences for the virtual machine. Now you can power on and reconfigure the destination virtual machine in the same task.

Converter server stops responding if target virtual machine customization is canceled after applying some customization settings. This issue is not observed in Converter Standalone 4.0 release.

Conversion wizard displays an error message and closes if the user selects not to customize the target virtual machine. This issue is resolved in Converter Standalone 4.0.

Not pre-allocated and Pre-allocated virtual disk types might not always be shown in the Conversion wizard for destinations with UNC paths. The destination path issue is fixed in Converter Standalone 4.0.